Mslexia

Mslexia, the magazine for women who write | www.mslexia.co.uk

About the magazine

Daneet Steffens

Editor

Daneet Steffens was born in Berkeley, California but was educated primarily in London and New York (including an MA from UCL and a Ph.D from New York University, both in comparative literature). For more than 20 years she has worked as a book critic, writer, editor, reporter and fact-checker for a variety of magazines and newspapers including Entertainment Weekly, Time, Time Out New York, Time Out London, the Chicago Tribune, the Scotland on Sunday, US Magazine, The Crack and the Accent Magazine Group. She has been the editor of Mslexia since June 2006.

Wendy Macdonald

Marketing

Wendy Macdonald is a New Zealander who moved to the UK in 2002. Her background lies primarily in sales and marketing within the hospitality and sports industries. Three years after arriving in the UK Wendy decided on a career change and joined Mslexia as the listings editor. Since then she has also been involved in producing Mslexia's Writer's Diary, and the website, and is now managing the marketing of the organisation. Her biggest challenge since joining Mslexia has been learning where to put her apostrophes.

Sarah Mitchell

Advertising

Sarah comes from a varied work background which includes both publishing and advertising and has a undergraduate degree in English and Philosophy from the University of Leeds. She is a new addition to the team taking over from Elizabeth as Mslexia's advertising contact. She enjoys reading, writing, music and food – the good stuff!

Isabel Smales

Finance

Isabel joined Mslexia in the Spring of 1999, narrowly missing the first issue, and has been shackled to the finances and administration ever since. Despite the years these will be the first words that she has contributed for wider circulation.
She is a qualified accountant and has a number of years experience in such varied fields as cattle breeding, farming and estate management, and retailing. She has two grown-up rugby playing sons, is an active Pony Club mother and commentates and stewards at horse trials up and down the country. When not working she enjoys sailing and when other commitments allow she plans to circumnavigate the world.

Helen Baynes

Office manager

Helen Baynes is Mslexia's office manager and looks after the books section of the magazine. She has an undergraduate degree in English studies from Stirling University and a postgraduate Masters in arts management from Northumbria University. Home is a working dairy farm in the village of Slaley, Northumberland, where she lives with her husband Richard, and a whole menagerie of animals including a dog, three cats, chickens, and of course a whole herd of pedigree Shorthorn & Ayrshire cows!

Sophie Baker

Listings

Sophie Baker is Mslexia's listings editor and has recently graduated from an MA in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. She is a poet who creatively blogs at www.just-somestuff.blogspot.com She enjoys baking (true to her name), writing poems and reviews, ballroom dancing and drinking too much coffee in cafés around Newcastle.

Victoria Levay

Administration/subscriptions

Victoria has recently graduated from Newcastle University with a Creative Writing Masters and is set to begin her literary career as administrative assistant here at Mslexia. She is passionate about all kinds of literature and has a lifelong love of film which she indulges far too frequently at the local cinema. She has just completed her first feature length screenplay and one day hopes to see her work appear on screen. Aside from writing she loves a good book, travelling back to the shire to see her family and of course, a deep pan pizza.

Julie Egdell

Volunteer

Julie Egdell recently graduated with honours from an MA in Creative Writing at Teesside University. Her main passions are reading and writing poetry, short stories and travel articles. She has been published in Kenaz magazine, The Wilds anthology, Poetry Combination Module, Sentinel, The Crack, Romar Traveller and Teesside Writers Network. Her second passion is travel and after recently taking the Trans-Siberian is already planning a volunteer expedition to India in March. She is obsessed with the Russian language, culture and people and plans to move to Moscow to teach English. Home is Whitley Bay, where she loves to walk her dog and sing loudly in her car! She hopes to settle down there as a journalist or travel writer after conquering the world.

Carolyn Jess-Cooke

Poetry advisor

Carolyn Jess-Cooke lives in Gateshead. Recipient of an Eric Gregory Award, a major Arts Council Award, the Tyrone Guthrie Prize for poetry, a Northern Promise Award for Poetry, and a prize in the Cardiff Academi International Poetry Competition, she has published her poems everywhere from Poetry London to the The Stinging Fly. Her poetry collection, Inroads is due out in January from Seren, and she has also published 4 nonfiction books in film. She likes chocolate, writing in the bath, and is addicted to buying pyjamas.